Hi all,
A miracle is defined as ‘a surprising and welcome event that is not explainable by natural or scientific laws, and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency.’ To us, a miracle means God came through once again. But wouldn’t it be nice to live in the realm of miracles rather than experiencing roller coast highs only to be followed by roller coaster lows?
What if we lived from miracle to miracle in such rapid succession that it became a way of life for us?
Authority, power
The Greek word for ‘miracle’ is ‘dunamis’, which means ‘power’. It is where the word ‘dynamite’ comes from, and differs from ‘authority’ which is ‘exousia’. We can explain the difference by saying a police officer functions in the authority of the law, and their gun is the power to enforce their authority.
We have the authority (exousia) to use the the power (dunamis) of the name of Jesus. But unless the Father first moves by His Spirit in authority into a situation there will be no power given you when you use that Name. In other words, you can say ‘in the name of Jesus’ until you are blue in the face, but unless the Father has first moved in authority into that situation, nothing will happen. Both authority and power must be present.
In Acts 19: 13-17 we are told of 7 Jewish non-believers tried to cast out a demon using the name of Jesus. The spirit answered them saying: “Jesus I know. And Paul I know. But who are you?” and the spirit in the man made him attack them and all 7 left the home bloodied and naked, the fight was so intense. They did not have the authority to use the name of Jesus, so they had no power.
No anointing (manifest presence) of God for that
When I was at the death bed of a good friend, upon his last breath, his wife started yelling at him and shouting ‘in the name of Jesus live!’, to no avail. I told her: “_____, there is no anointing to raise him, we need to let him go.”
She had the authority as a child of God to use the name, but the Holy Spirit who brings the power, was not with her in her desire to see her husband raised from the dead. In the Spirit it was just blank – nothing. No Presence at all for that. So the name of Jesus was powerless in that situation.
In Luke 5: 17 we are told as Jesus was teaching that; “…the power (dunamis) of the Lord was there to heal them.” Power and the person of Jesus who could then command healing.
Getting His mind on the matter
When I was in Mexico for a short term missions trip in Saltillo, we had 2 women come to the house one night asking if I would come the next morning to their village to pray for a little girl named Fedra, who was born deaf and unable to speak. I asked for a few moments to pray about it before I made a final decision – I was nervous about their expectations for a miracle.
I sat on the other side of the room while the women spoke (in Spanish) to the missionary, and I quickly told the Father: “Father, I’m not going to lay hands on that girl unless you are going to heal her. The only way I’ll agree is if you tell me you’re going to heal her.” Immediately He said, “I will heal her. Go with confidence.”
Then I continued: “But I’ve never done this before, what should I do?” But it was the Lord who spoke back: “Study the examples in the gospels where I healed the deaf, dumb,* or deaf and dumb*.” And that was that, end of conversation. I got up and told the missionary I would go. That night I studied the very few examples of Jesus encountering deaf people, and/or people who couldn’t talk (one was a blind man). In most cases a demon was involved and He cast it out. But in one it was a simple healing^ and he put his fingers in the man’s ears and commanded them to be opened. (^Mark 7: 32-35, *9: 17-25, Matthew 9: 32-33, 12:22, Luke 11: 14
I didn’t have discernment to know if a demon was involved with Fedra, but I always followed the ‘when in doubt, cast it out’ guideline, lol, so I thought I’d cover every possibility. When we arrived, the girl’s parents set her down in a chair, with they and their extended family stood behind and on either side of Fedra, about 10 in all. We were 11 from the US standing facing them. And one very scared 7 year old deaf girl staring at us all, who could not utter a voice.
I asked the missionary to explain in Spanish to her parents what I was going to do. Then I stepped forward, put my fingers in her ears, took authority over a deaf and dumb spirit in the name of Jesus, and then commanded her to be healed in the name of Jesus – still not knowing if a demon was involved…and removed my fingers. At first Fedra continued to just stare at us, but an experienced nurse with us observed a change – her eyes hesitantly followed who was speaking.
The nurse examined her and said she was sure she could hear, but thought she was scared, never having heard voices before. Her parents looked her in the eye and spoke to her gently: ‘Fedra’. Suddenly like a thunder clap it all made sense to her – she leaped up and her family began talking to her and hugging her and great joy erupted in the home. She leaped into my arms and we walked outside, where just outside the doorway she immediately looked straight up into the overhanging tree, for she heard a bird chirping. Someone told her in Spanish “pajaro” (bird). Immediately she understood, and started pointing to the tree, then being told in Spanish what it was, then she would point to a flower, and so on, as she absorbed all this new knowledge like a dry sponge soaking in the rain.
She started talking what must have been a sort of garbled Spanish as she mimicked the sounds of words, trying to make her lips and tongue form words for the first time in her life.
The village kids surrounded us and were grabbing at her, so I put her down in their midst as they hugged and were shouting with squeals of joy in a wonderful confused jumble of children. Suddenly one child behind her called out ‘Fedra’, and she immediately turned and pointed right at him. Then it became a game, with the children surrounding her, pressing in on her, taking turns calling her name as she spun around to point to whoever said her name.
Then her gaze caught an old mini-van in the dusty circular courtyard of the village. She pushed the kids aside like someone trying to walk through tall grass pushing the brush to the side, and once clear ran to the van. I followed as did the others a bit behind the children, and she began pounding on the driver’s side door with her open hand…she was saying something but it didn’t make sense to me, but it became clear she wanted to door opened for her.
So I did, and she climbed quickly into the driver’s seat and started pounding forcefully on the horn. As it sounded that first time she jumped sky high, first startled and pausing fearing what she may have done, then giggling like a child on Christmas morning.
We immediately understood: All her life she had seen cars drive into the square with the drivers pounding on what seemed to her to be just the steering wheel; seeing the reaction of people to that pounding, but not knowing why. Now she knew why! She honked the horn for a couple of minutes, jumping and squealing with each honk, until she had enough. Then she got out and led the gaggle of kids off somewhere else in the village, all following her with continued squeals and shouting. Her parents just stood by in tears taking it all in. That was a good day.
All of that to say this: The Father had to be there for there to be power released when I spoke the name of Jesus. Otherwise, nothing would have happened.
What we want to do therefore, is live in a realm of fellowship and communion with the Father, that given any situation, anything that surprises us, we can know His mind in those situations because we’ve already been walking with Him. THEN we can speak the Name and a miracle happens.
And by miracle I’m not talking specifically about healings, that too, but also about provision for our lives, and answers to decisions we must make and need wisdom for, about situations and favor and blessing financially and favor with people – we need to know where He is going, and then we can speak that name above all names. Then a miracle happens.
We want to live in the realm of miracles, not in a roller coaster existence of ups and downs, never knowing what He wants, where He will provide. More next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
